China’s apparent construction of a third airstrip on its man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea could fill a gap in Beijing’s anti-submarine defenses, complicating operations for the US Navy and its allies, Chinese and Western experts said.
While most attention has been on the power projection China would get from its new islands in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), China could also use them to hunt rival submarines in and beyond the strategic waterway, they said.
Possessing three airstrips more than 1,400km from the Chinese mainland would enable Beijing to extend the reach of Y-9 surveillance planes and Ka-28 helicopters that are being re-equipped to track submarines, the experts added.
Photo: Reuters
A Pentagon report in May said China lacked a robust anti-submarine warfare capability off its coastline and in deep water.
Strengthened anti-submarine capabilities could also help China protect the movements of its Jin-class submarines, capable of carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and which are at the core of China’s nuclear deterrence strategy, said Zhang Baohui (張寶輝), a mainland security specialist at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University.
“That would provide greater security for China’s nuclear submarines to survive ... and if necessary to execute their orders in wartime,” Zhang said. “They would be safer than in open oceans, where China cannot provide adequate support.”
China, increasingly confident about its military firepower, has repeatedly stressed it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire Spratlys, saying the islands would be used for civilian and undefined military purposes.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Wednesday said “necessary” construction work would improve conditions on the islands.
Satellite photographs show construction is almost finished on a 3,000m long airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁).
Recent images showed Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁) would also have a 3,000m airstrip, Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said on Monday.
Poling, citing images taken last week, said China also appeared to be doing preparatory work for an airstrip on Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁).
Together, the three islands form a rough triangle in the heart of the Spratlys, where Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims.
While a noisy and relatively shallow operating environment for submarines, the South China Sea has several deep water channels giving access to the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Asked if Washington was concerned the airstrips would enhance China’s anti-submarine capabilities, Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said the US was monitoring events in the South China Sea.
One China-based naval analyst said China was trying to improve sonar and other detection equipment carried aboard its Y-9 patrol planes and Ka-28 helicopters.
China was also expected to put detection devices on the seabed around the new islands, creating “an electronic gateway,” he added.
Zhang has previously said ballistic missile submarines are more important for China’s nuclear deterrent than other powers, given Beijing’s policy, dating back to the 1960s, of only using nuclear weapons if attacked with them first.
The importance of that deterrence means China is likely to eventually impose an air defense identification zone over part of the South China Sea, security experts say, mirroring its declaration of such a zone over the East China Sea in late 2013.
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